


Do not weep, bridgeman, for war is kind

by et_tu_lj



Category: SANDERSON Brandon - Works, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Battlefield, Bridge Four - Freeform, Gen, Inspired by Poetry, Poetry, War, Way of Kings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 16:10:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13344753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/et_tu_lj/pseuds/et_tu_lj
Summary: Kaladin knows the inevitable price of war, yet he cannot watch the Kholin forces be slaughtered, abandoned by their allies. Poetry, set at the end of The Way of Kings.





	Do not weep, bridgeman, for war is kind

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt, "do not weep, maiden, for war is kind" in a 3 Sentence Ficathon, but the entire poem was so well suited to the character that it turned into a poetry remix instead.
> 
> Inspired by Stephen Crane's poem, _War is Kind_ , found [here](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47650/war-is-kind-do-not-weep-maiden-for-war-is-kind).

Do not weep, bridgeman, for war is kind.  
Because your brother turned with a smile on his face  
And hope in his heart as the sword swung down,  
Do not weep.  
War is kind.

          Clash of spears and screams of the dying,  
          Trembling unprepared on the front line,  
          These boys were born to fall and die.  
          The lines shift and absorb their loss.  
          The battle rages on, unceasing, and their souls fade  
          From the field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, bridgeman, for war is kind.  
Because your men fell to the arrow with purpose,  
Bowed beneath their burden, charged and died,  
Do not weep.  
War is kind.

          Swift, mad charge before the army,  
          Bridge Four patch on ragged green,  
          These men were made to run and die.  
          Point for them the virtue of strategy.  
          Make plain to them the value of sacrifice  
          Above the chasms where a thousand corpses lie.

Bridgeman whose soul rages with Stormlight  
On the bright splendid day of Kholin's last stand.  
Do not weep.  
War is kind.


End file.
